Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to distributing power to a plurality of electronic devices without tripping a circuit breaker.
Background of the Related Art
A large computing system may consume a large amount of electrical power. The various components responsible for supplying the power to each entity in the computing cluster are referred to collectively as a power distribution system. The power distribution system may be specifically designed for the demands of a particular computing system. It is important to avoid overloading an electrical phase, a circuit breaker, or a power distribution unit.
While the original design and installation of a complex computing system may adequately account for proper loading of the power distribution system, the loading of the power distribution system may be altered over time as servers, switches, storage devices and other electronic devices are added, removed, replaced and reconfigured. The power distribution infrastructure, such as the circuit breakers and power distribution units, will usually remain unchanged since the power distribution units typically have unused outlets. However, even with the availability of PDU outlets, there may not be sufficient power capacity in a given PDU or particular circuit on a PDU in order to power new or additional devices. Swapping out an old electronic device with a new higher power model can also change the dynamics and requirements of the power infrastructure without using any additional outlets.